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Monday, January 7, 2013

Mattress Matters: The Hug Bed

One week complete in January! Is it just me or is time moving at an insanelyfast speed for you as well? Did you accomplish your Quest for the week? I'm feeling pretty good about doing my goals this year in "small monthly doses". It's not so overwhelming when I realize I only have three more weeks left for my January Quest. Of course with the exercising, I plan to continue some form of it into February, but for now, three more weeks at this pace is doable...I think.Exercise and Write SomethingI did 2 more miles on the treadmill today. I plan to do a bit more tomorrow. I'm not going to tell you about it until I do it, because...well....that way if I change my mind, it's not like I posted it on the Internet for all the world to see and then didn't do it. So...you will just have to tune in tomorrow to see if I added something to my workout. I am pleased that I have walked on the treadmill for seven days straight because I didn't always want to do it.Today was Hubby's first day back to work since Christmas. He had some extra time saved up and was able to take off during our school break. It was some wonderful downtime for our family. We stayed up late and slept in pretty much every day for the last couple weeks. So you can imagine getting up this morning was a bit difficult for us. To make getting up even harder, we purchased a new mattress for our bed last week. A "much needed we have went WAY past the expiration date on our old mattress" (if mattresses even have those) kind of purchase. Now, I have shared some deep "stuff" with you here. I have been honest. I have admitted weaknesses and fears and even insecurities, but I will not share with you how old our mattress was. Let's just say it was embarrassingly old. It was time for a new one. That's all I'm going to say.Since I have already established it's been awhile since we last made a mattress purchase for our bed, you can imagine how overwhelmed we were with all the options out there. We talked with family and friends and took in all their advice and opinions. We did research online by reading reviews and consumer articles. I even posted about it on Facebook and got helpful comments there. When we finally stepped into the store to buy our new mattress, we were armed with a good deal of mattress information. But in the end, ultimately....when purchasing a mattress, it really comes down to trying them out and finding the one you like.Which is fine...except when there are two of you. And I believe I may have mentioned before that while Hubby and I are deeply in love, we are so very much opposites. We are so different that even after over 23 years of marriage I still look at him with such amazement sometimes because I would never see some things the way he does. And at times, he finds my responses so fascinating, because he couldn't imagine looking at life the way I do. Thankfully, that works for us.And so there we were at the mattress store knowing full well that he wanted a firm mattress and I wanted a soft pillowy cloud. It's just so us. We tested pretty much every mattress in the store, and of course when we narrowed it down, Hubby liked a firmer mattress and I liked a softer one.There we stood, shortly before closing time, the last two customers in the store, arguing about which mattress to buy. The salesman remarked that in all the years he had been selling mattresses, he had never seen a couple argue like we did. Not because we were making a huge horrible scene, but because I was insisting we purchase the mattress Hubby liked and he was trying to convince me to get the one I wanted. When the salesman made his observation, we both started laughing. Then Hubby told him it wasn't as sweet as it appeared. When we purchase big items, we keep them for a crazy long period of time. We don't buy cars, furniture, electronics, or mattresses often. We know when we buy a big ticket item that we are going to have to live with it for a long time...maybe even longer than most people do. So...neither one of us wanted to have to listen to the other one complain about how we wished we had gotten the other mattress. In the end, we compromised with a mattress in between the firmer one Hubby wanted and the softer one I wanted. You might say it was just right. It's also a memory foam mattress which is a new adventure for us. It does take a little bit to get used to it, but we are already pleased with how comfy our mattress is. So comfy Hubby has dubbed it the Hug Bed. Which brings me back to this morning. I got up with Hubby at 5:30 am to see him off to work. We are not morning people. Hubby's job here requires him to get up early. We do not enjoy getting up at that hour. And that Hug Bed is so comfy...We console ourselves that it's not forever and someday we will get to sleep in and get up at a reasonable hour. We do not plan to be the kind of retirees that get up at the crack of dawn. We prefer to wake when the sun has risen and is already warming the day. It's something for us to look forward to someday. And this job, with this wake up time, really makes us look forward to that time in our lives.I told you all of that to say, getting on the treadmill was a bit harder today because I got up so early. Clearly 5:30 am is way too early to walk on a treadmill, so I spent some quiet time with our Puppies. I read some, I prayed, I watched a little TV, and I ate breakfast. Our boys woke up and trickled down the stairs. I decided I was finally awake enough to head downstairs to exercise. It was tougher today, but I stuck with it. I didn't give in to my wants (stay in the Hug Chair). I pushed forward to meet my goal. I got on that treadmill and I walked. I walked because it was a goal I set for myself for January. It's a Quest I'm on to create a good habit in my life. It will literally help my heart and my spirit. There are a few of you that have let me know you are doing your own Heart & Spirit Monthly Quest. I know you are working toward your own goals. I want to be an encouragement to you. So today, I got on the treadmill and I didn't think about being too tired. I thought about you. I thought about the fact that you check in on me. You read this blog. And we are in this together. I hope you met your Quest for today as well. Please let me know how you are doing. It's so inspiring when I hear from you!Now, off to the Hug Bed, because I have more exercising and writing to do tomorrow!

My 2013 Inspiration Verse

My Life Inspiration Verses

"For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you,” declares the Lord. ~Jeremiah 29:11-14a